Government extended censorship beyond books and audiovisual content, now including a wide range of products
The Hungarian government has intensified restrictions on LGBT+ content in products aimed at minors, extending their application beyond books and audiovisual content, now including a wide range of products.
According to the digital newspaper “24.hu”, the new decree explicitly prohibits “publicly displaying or promoting change of gender identity, gender change or homosexuality in a direct, natural or arbitrary way” in products aimed at children.
Furthermore, it prohibits the sale of these products within a radius of 200 meters around educational and religious institutions, while for books, publishers are required to inform bookstores about the content.
Previously, the ban mainly applied to books and audiovisual content. This original measure complemented the controversial 2021 “defense of minors” law, promoted by Viktor Orbán’s government, which prohibits the publication of LGBT+ content for minors and associates homosexuality with pedophilia.
The regulation was criticized by the European Commission, which considered it homophobic, and was taken to the European Court of Justice, with the support of around 15 European Union (EU) countries.
Recently, bookstores in Hungary were forced to package books in transparent packaging, including works by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, which briefly address the topic of homosexuality.
Furthermore, the Budapest Museum of Ethnography chose to isolate part of a photographic exhibition, due to the presence of homosexual couples in some images captured in Brazil by Hungarian-Swiss photographer Claudia Andujar.
The 2021 law also prohibits discussion of the topic in schools and in programs for minors in the media.
By Ezatamentchy.
Source: Maxima
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